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Sunday, January 17, 2016

Stack Rundown, 01/17/2016

I forgot to do this post, probably because I'm still looking at all my comics on an iPad Pro's screen. Yep. Bought one. Dropped probably too much money on a super cumbersome tablet, but having a specific need/use for the size, it was totally worth it, all these books look so fucking good.

Catwoman #48

Still think this is better than I expected and the art is amazing, but HOLY SHIT, did someone at DC want to sweep Genevieve Valentine’s run under the rug, yet elements from Ann Nocenti’s putrid garbage run are okay? I’m gonna blame Bob Harras, no one has blamed him for anything recently, right? Seriously though, there’s a scene between Selina and Penguin in here where shit is tense between them, and I’m just like “Did they forget that the last run ended on a deal between these two?” Then Penguin straight up goes “YOUR CRIME FAMILY GOT FRAMED FOR MURDER AND ARE GONE NOW” at which point, I’m just like “oooooh, someone is vindictively erasing everything.” That’s pretty fucked up.

Uncanny Avengers #5

I’m in such a weird place with this issue. I had no enthusiasm to read this going into it, as it was the last on my pull for the week and I just didn’t care. Read it, it was what it was, then fucking Steve Rogers comes in and says “well, our real mission is to find Red Skull and Xavier’s brain.” So I’m just like “well shit, I want to see that!” Then fucking Hank Pym came back and is all “Hey, I’m another Remender thing that happened! Pay attention!” So I am all “Sure, I’ll pay attention.” But there’s a little nagging thought in the back of my mind that is going “well you know, this isn’t Remender right?” I KNOW! Shut up.

Extraordinary X-Men #5

This is pretty much exactly what I want an X-Men book to be… Fun, good cast of characters, great art. I was pretty low on Marvel interest going in, as I just lost interest in all of Bendis’ X-Men stuff and Jeff Lemire’s time on JLU didn’t do much for me, but hey, I got proven wrong, I’m back in. I do wish this issue sort of ended on something more to go by, but I figure next issue is meant to be the teaser for the upcoming crossover… jesus christ, there’s already a crossover. ALSO, the way Humberto Ramos draws Logan’s old man lips weirds me out! That is all.

All-New Wolverine #4

I never knew X-23 was a prostitute at some point. Learn new things everyday I guess. While I think Earth 2 and Injustice went off the rails with how many elements they were juggling and the need for big crazy shit to always be happening, I did think Tom Taylor was a pretty good writer, and now that I’m reading a focused title centering around one character, that thought is being reinforced. There’s a lot of talk in this issue between X-23 and Dr. Strange about how she’s similar/different to Logan, and it has been shown throughout the book. This title is just doing a good job of building off the decent amount of interest in the character that I gained through reading X-Force, and has her growing to be a Wolverine who I actually somewhat care about in a solo capacity, which can’t be said for Logan.

Descender #9

Lemire and Nguyen keep on keeping on. The book continues to add more elements to the story that gets me more and more invested. Kind of impressive considering how cynical I was to this book going in… You know, how I kind of got tired of Lemire stories about special kids and their emotions (the panel in the middle of the first double page spread within this issue suuuuuure didn’t help. ROBOT EMOTIONS! and tears?), but regardless… I see Andy going “I got an ex-wife” and I go “huh, well I want to see what that’s like” and there it is, more interest! I fully known how cynical and jaded I can be when it comes to comics, I read a fuck ton of them, so I haven’t got time or the money to read a book without reason to… but good on this book for keep giving me reasons to come back.